Virtual experience pillars

ABSTRACT

Described herein are techniques for providing a virtual experience including, but not limited to, the use of a virtual experience “pillar,” or virtual rotation of a virtual area and/or a participant in the virtual area. The entry of a participant into a physical environment via a physical entrance area is detected. The participant uses a head-mounted display (HMD) to view a virtual environment associated with the physical environment, the virtual environment including a virtual entrance coinciding with the physical entrance area. An outer virtual environment, and a virtual pillar upon which a virtual avatar representing the participant stands, are caused to be displayed in the virtual environment viewed by the participant.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/860,206, filed Jun. 11, 2019, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The market for virtual experiences has vastly increased in recent years.Virtual experience systems allow users to explore virtual spaces. Somevirtual experience systems rely on a head-mounted display (HMD) worn byparticipants and through which the participants visually experience avirtual experience environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for providinga virtual experience.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a participant of a virtualexperience according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a physical environment for a virtualexperience according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating one example of a participant'sexperience in a virtual environment including a virtual experiencepillar according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating another example aparticipant's experience in a virtual environment including virtualexperience pillar techniques according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating operations of a method for using avirtual experience pillar in a virtual experience according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating operations for another method forusing a virtual experience pillar in a virtual experience according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system thatmay be used in some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatus, systems, andnon-transitory computer-readable storage media for providing a virtualexperience including, but not limited to, the use of a virtualexperience “pillar,” or virtual rotation of a virtual area and/or aparticipant in the virtual area. According to some embodiments, theentry of a participant into a physical environment via a physicalentrance area is detected. In some embodiments, the participant uses ahead-mounted display (HMD) to view a virtual environment associated withthe physical environment, the virtual environment including a virtualentrance coinciding with the physical entrance area. An outer virtualenvironment, and a virtual pillar upon which a virtual avatarrepresenting the participant stands, are caused to be displayed in thevirtual environment viewed by the participant.

In some embodiments, a virtual pillar is rotated relative to the outervirtual environment, where the rotation of the virtual pillar causes theparticipant's view in the virtual environment to rotate while theparticipant remains stationary in the physical environment. Uponreaching a defined amount of rotation, the virtual pillar is caused tostop rotating. In some embodiments, a virtual egress area is displayedin the virtual environment that coincides with the same physicalentrance area (or a different physical entrance area), where the virtualentrance area and the virtual egress area appear spatially distant inthe participant's view of the virtual environment. Among other benefits,the use of a virtual experience pillar can provide an expansiveexperience within a virtual experience environment that can beexperienced by participants within a relatively more constrained ordifferently oriented physical environment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing a virtualenvironment and experience according to some embodiments. The system ofFIG. 1 includes transmitters 102, 104, 106 and 108, receivers 112, 113,114, 115, 116 and 117, player (or participant) computers 120 and 122,transducers 132 and 136, motors 133 and 137, visual displays 134 and138, accessories 135 and 139, server computer 150, environment devices162 and 164, networking computer 160, and network 170.

Receivers 112-117 may be placed on a player or an accessory 135. Eachreceiver may receive one or more signals from one or more oftransmitters 102-108. The signals received from each transmitter mayinclude an identifier to identify the particular transmitter. In someinstances, each transmitter may transmit an omnidirectional signalperiodically at the same point in time. Each receiver may receivesignals from multiple transmitters, and each receiver may then providesignal identification information and timestamp information for eachreceived signal to player computer 120 (also referred to as aparticipant computer). By determining when each transmitter signal isreceived from a receiver, player computer 120 may identify the locationof each receiver.

Player computer 120 may be positioned on a player, such as for exampleon the back of a vest worn by a player. For example, with respect toFIG. 2, player computer 150 is positioned on a back of a player 200. Aplayer computer may receive information from a plurality of receivers,determine the location of each receiver, and then locally update avirtual environment accordingly. Updates to the virtual environment mayinclude a player's point of view in the environment, events that occurin the environment, and video and audio output to provide to a playerrepresenting the player's point of view in the environment along withthe events that occur in the environment.

Player computer 120 may also communicate changes to the virtualenvironment determined locally at the computer to other playercomputers, such as player computer 122, through server computer 150. Inparticular, a player computer for a first player may detect a change inthe player's position based on receivers on the player's body, determinechanges to the virtual environment for that player, provide thosechanges to server computer 150, and server computer 150 will providethose updates to any other player computers for other players in thesame virtual experience session, such as a player associated playercomputer 122.

A player, or participant, may have multiple receivers on his or herbody. Each body-worn receiver receives information from one or moretransmitter and provides that information to the player computer and/orserver computer 150. In some instances, each receiver may provide thedata to the player computer wirelessly, such as for example through aradiofrequency signal such as a Bluetooth® signal. In some instances,each receive may be paired or otherwise configured to only communicatedata with a particular player computer. In some instances, a particularplayer computer may be configured to only receive data from a particularset of receivers. Based on physical environment events such as a playerwalking, local virtual events that are provided by the player computer,or remote virtual events triggered by an element of the virtualenvironment located remotely from the player, player haptic feedback maybe triggered and sensed. The haptic feedback may be provided in theterms of transducer 132 and/or motor 133. For example, if an animal orobject touches a player at a particular location on the player's bodywithin the virtual environment, a transducer located at that positionmay be activated to provide a haptic sensation of being touched by thatobject. Note that transducers in an environmental device may alsoprovide haptic feedback.

Visual display 134 may be provided through a headset worn by aparticipant. The visual display 134 may include a helmet, visualdisplay, and other elements and components needed to provide a visualand audio output to a participant. In some instances, player computer120 may generate and provide virtual environment graphics to a playerthrough the visual display 134.

Accessory 135 may be an element separate from the player, incommunication with player computer 120, and displayed within the virtualenvironment through visual display 134. For example, an accessory mayinclude a gun, a torch, a light saber, a wand, or any other object thatcan be graphically displayed within the virtual environment andphysically engaged or interacted with by a participant. Accessories 135may be held by a participant, touched by a participant, or otherwiseengaged in a physical environment and represented within the virtualenvironment by player computer 120 through visual display 134.

Server computer 150 may communicate with player computers 120 and 122 toreceive updated virtual information from the player computers andprovide that information to other player computers currently active inthe virtual experience session. Server computer 150 may store andexecute a virtual experience engine, such as Unity game engine, LeapMotion, Unreal game engine, or another virtual experience engine. Servercomputer 150 may also provide virtual environment data to networkingcomputer 160 and ultimately to other remote locations through network170.

Environment devices 162 and 164 may include physical devices that are apart of the physical environment that may interact or be detected by aparticipant or other aspects of the gaming system. For example, andenter environment device 162 may be a source of heat, cold, wind, sound,smell, vibration (such as provided by one or more transducers in thefloor, for example), or some other sense that may be detected by aparticipant.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a player 200, also referred to herein as aparticipant, according to some embodiments. Player 200 may include oneor more receivers 210, a plurality of haptic devices 220, one or moreaccessories 230, visual display 240, and player computer 250. As shown,one or more receivers 210 may be placed in multiple locations over aplayer's body. In some instances, receivers are placed on clothing thatmay be worn or attached to the player such as a vest housing the playercomputer 250. As a virtual session is experienced by the player, thelocation of each receiver will be determined by player computer 250based on signal ID information and timestamp information received byeach and every receiver by the player computer 250. Based on physicalenvironment events, local virtual events, and remote virtual vents,haptic feedback may be provided to a player through one or more hapticdevices 220. Each haptic device 220 may include one or more transducersor motors positioned on the clothing or otherwise attached to a playerin such a way as to provide haptic feedback that can be sensed by theplayer. Accessory 230 may be held by a player and may also include oneor more receivers and haptic devices, each of which may have a similarfunctionality as those placed on a player's body. A heads-up displayunit 240 provides a player with graphic display, textual information,audio information, and other information for a virtual session asprovided by player computer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a physical environment for a virtualexperience according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 3, anexperience participant 304A and an experience participant 304B enter aphysical area 302 via a physical entrance 308. For example, the entrance308 may be a doorway and the physical area 302 may be otherwisepartially or totally enclosed by walls. In other examples, the physicalarea 302 is defined by physical markers other than walls. In anembodiment, the physical area 302 includes transducers 306, which may beinstalled in the floor or other feature of the physical area 302 suchthat the participant 304A and participant 304B can feel the transducers306 when activated. Although two participants are shown in FIG. 1, ingeneral, an experience can be concurrently experienced by any number ofparticipant or by only a single participant.

As indicated by the passage of time 310, at some later point in time,the same participants 304A and 304B exit out the same entrance 308. Inother examples, the participant may exit out of an exit that is locatedin a different part of the physical area 302. As described in moredetail hereinafter, by applying a virtual experience pillar or virtualrotation to each participant's experience of a virtual environment, eachparticipant may experience entry and exit from a corresponding virtualarea in a spatially different orientation than that of the physicalenvironment.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate various points in time of a participant'sexperience of a virtual environment based on application of a virtualexperience pillar technique. As shown in FIG. 4A, a participant's avatar406 (that is, a virtual representation of the participant in a virtualenvironment) enters into a virtual area 402A of a virtual environment400A via a virtual entrance 408. For example, assuming a participant isviewing the virtual environment via an HMD, the participant's HMD maydisplay a virtual representation of a door or other entryway into a roomor other type of area, which the participant to navigate into byphysically passing through a corresponding physical entrance, asdescribed in FIG. 3.

In an embodiment, the participant's view of the virtual area 402Aincludes various visual elements, shown as visual elements 410A-410C.These visual elements can include walls, objects, other participantavatars, or any other objects capable of visual representation in thevirtual area 402A. The participant can view the visual elements of thevirtual area 402A, for example, by directing the participant's gazethroughout the area, as desired.

In an embodiment, the virtual area 402A further includes a virtualpillar 404. In this example, the virtual pillar 404 represents a visualobject or enclosure upon which the participant's avatar 406 stands whileexperiencing the virtual area 402A. As described below, the virtualpillar 404 represents a feature of the virtual environment 400A that mayat times rotate such that the participant's avatar 406 is orienteddifferently relative to the virtual area 402A and the virtualenvironment 400A generally. The virtual pillar 404 may include one ormore objects that help the participant visually anchor his or herposition relative to the virtual pillar 404 and the other visualelements of the virtual area 402A. For the example, the visual anchorscan include the floor or surface of the pillar, one or more enclosingwalls, or other objects in relatively close proximity to the avatar 406in the virtual area 402A. These anchor objects, for example, may helpthe participant visually comprehend that at times the virtual pillar 404is rotating within the environment and is therefore causing theparticipant's view of the virtual environment to change.

As shown in FIG. 4A, after time 412 has elapsed, the orientationparticipant's avatar 406 has changed within the virtual area 402. Forexample, during the participant's experience of the virtual environment400, the virtual pillar 404 upon which the participant's avatar isstanding begins to rotate. In this example, the position of visualelements 410A-410C within the virtual environment 400 remain the samewhile the visual representation of the virtual pillar 404, and anyassociated anchor objects, have rotated approximately 45 degrees. In anembodiment, the rotation of the virtual pillar 404 in the virtualenvironment 400 occurs without reference to how the participant may movewithin the physical space during the same timeframe. For example, if theparticipant remains stationary in the physical space while the virtualpillar 404 rotates, the participant's view of the virtual environment400 will be reoriented relative to the participant's orientation in thephysical environment.

The participant's experience of the virtual pillar 404 rotating withouta corresponding rotation in the participant's physical environment mayin some cases cause the participant various types of discomfort (e.g.,motion sickness). In some embodiments, to help alleviate thesesensations in some participants, and to generally distract theparticipant from the divergence in the participant's virtual environmentorientation compared to the participant's physical environmentorientation, the experience is configured to activate transducers (e.g.,transducers 306) that can be felt by the participant. The transducersgenerally may be activated at any point in time relative to when therotation is occurring and may continue to be activated for some or allof the duration of the rotating.

FIG. 4B includes block diagrams continuing the example described in FIG.4A. For example, after time 414 has elapsed, the virtual pillar 504 hascontinued to rotate and the participant's avatar 406 is now orientedapproximately 180 degrees relative to the participant's originalorientation in the virtual area 402. As indicated above, this rotationof the participant's avatar is performed in the virtual environment 400without reference to the participant's orientation in the participant'sphysical environment. Thus, the participant's avatar 406 may now befacing in a direction that is 180 degrees relative to the avatar'sorientation when it initially stood on the virtual pillar 404, eventhough the participant may remain stationary in the participant'sphysical environment throughout the process.

After some further period of time 416, the participant may cause his orher avatar 406 to exit the virtual area 402 via the virtual entrance408. In some examples, the virtual entrance 408 may be the same virtualentrance the participant used to enter the virtual area 402; in otherexamples, the participant may cause his or her avatar to exit via apassageway in the virtual area 402 that is different than the one theparticipant used to enter the area, for example, because the entrancealso rotated with the participant's avatar 406 or the virtual pillar 404rotated more or less than 180 degrees. In general, such uses of avirtual pillar within a virtual environment can enable a limitedphysical environment to be presented as a relatively larger or morecomplex virtual environment without the participant being aware of thedivergence between the two.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate another example of various points in time ofa participant's experience of a virtual environment based on applicationof a virtual experience rotation technique. Similar to FIGS. 4A and 4B,FIG. 5A illustrates two avatars 506A and 506B entering an inner virtualarea 504 via a virtual entrance 508. The inner virtual area 504 is partof a virtual environment 500 also including an outer virtual area 502.For example, the inner virtual area 504 may include a structure orenclosure (e.g., a vehicle, a boat, a floating platform, etc.) intowhich the participants' avatars enter in the virtual environment 500. Insome embodiments, the inner virtual area 504 includes one or more visualanchors 512 which, as described above, can help the participants orientthemselves with respect to the inner virtual area 504 and/or the outervirtual area 502.

In an embodiment, after an amount of time 518 has elapsed, a virtualexperience rotation technique is applied to the participants' experienceof the virtual environment 500. In this example, as shown in FIG. 5A,the outer virtual area 502 begins to rotate such that the participants'view of the outer virtual area 502 and visual elements 514A isreoriented relative to the participants' view of the inner virtual area504 and any anchor objects, which remain stationary. Similar to theexample described with respect to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the rotation of theouter virtual area 502 is performed irrespective of the participants'orientation/rotation within the participants' physical environment. Forreasons similar to those discussed elsewhere herein, such rotation maybe accompanied by the activation of transducers in the physicalenvironment that can be felt by the participants.

As shown in FIG. 5B, after an amount of time 520 has elapsed, therotation of the outer virtual area 502 may continue to approximately 180degrees (or to any other defined amount of rotation). Once the rotationstops, the participants cause their avatars 506A and 506B to leave theinner virtual area 504 via a virtual exit 510. In comparison to FIG. 4A,4B in which a local pillar was rotated to cause the orientation of aparticipant's avatar to change, in this example, an outer virtual areais rotated relative to a stationary inner virtual area at which theparticipants' avatars are located, although the end result may belargely the same in both examples.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating operations 600 of a method forusing a virtual experience pillar in a virtual experience according tosome embodiments. Some or all of the operations 600 (or other processesdescribed herein, or variations, and/or combinations thereof) areperformed under the control of one or more computer systems configuredwith executable instructions and are implemented as code (e.g.,executable instructions, one or more computer programs, or one or moreapplications) executing collectively on one or more processors, byhardware or combinations thereof. The code is stored on acomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising instructions executable by one or more processors.The computer-readable storage medium is non-transitory. In someembodiments, one or more (or all) of the operations 600 are performed byserver computer(s), player computer(s), and possibly other components ofthe other figures.

The operations 600 include, at block 602, detecting entry of aparticipant into a physical environment via a physical entrance area,where the participant is using a head-mounted display (HMD) to view avirtual environment associated with the physical environment, thevirtual environment including a virtual entrance area coinciding withthe physical entrance area.

The operations 600 further include, at block 604, causing display in thevirtual environment viewed by the participant of: an outer virtualenvironment, and a virtual pillar upon which a virtual avatarrepresenting the participant stands.

The operations 600 further include, at block 606, optionally, activatingtransducers in the physical environment.

The operations 600 further include, at block 608, causing the virtualpillar to rotate relative to the outer virtual environment, the rotationof the virtual pillar causing the participant's view in the virtualenvironment to rotate while the participant remains stationary in thephysical environment.

The operations 600 further include, at block 610, causing the virtualpillar to stop rotation upon reaching a defined amount of rotation.

The operations 600 further include, at block 612, causing display of avirtual egress area in the virtual environment, which in someembodiments coincides with the same physical entrance area and where thevirtual entrance area and the virtual egress area appear spatiallydistant in the participant's view of the virtual environment.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating operations 700 of a method forusing a virtual experience pillar in a virtual experience according tosome embodiments. Some or all of the operations 700 (or other processesdescribed herein, or variations, and/or combinations thereof) areperformed under the control of one or more computer systems configuredwith executable instructions and are implemented as code (e.g.,executable instructions, one or more computer programs, or one or moreapplications) executing collectively on one or more processors, byhardware or combinations thereof. The code is stored on acomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising instructions executable by one or more processors.The computer-readable storage medium is non-transitory. In someembodiments, one or more (or all) of the operations 700 are performed bygame computer(s), player computer(s), and possibly other components ofthe other figures.

The operations 700 include, at block 702, detecting entry of aparticipant into a physical environment via a physical entrance area,where the participant is using a head-mounted display (HMD) to view avirtual environment associated with the physical environment, thevirtual environment including a virtual entrance area coinciding withthe physical entrance area.

The operations 700 further include, at block 704, causing display in thevirtual environment viewed by the participant: an outer environmentincluding at least one first visual element, and an inner environmentincluding at least one second visual element that acts as a spatialanchor as the participant experiences the virtual environment.

The operations 700 further include, at block 706, optionally, activatingtransducers in the physical environment.

The operations 700 further include, at block 708, causing the display ofthe outer environment to rotate while display of the at least one secondvisual element remains stationary.

The operations 700 further include, at block 710, causing the display ofthe at least one first visual element to stop rotation upon reaching adefined amount of rotation.

The operations 700 further include, at block 712, causing display of avirtual egress area in the virtual environment, which in someembodiments coincides with the same physical entrance area and where thevirtual entrance area and the virtual egress area appear spatiallydistant in the participant's view of the virtual environment.

In some embodiments, a system that implements a portion or all of thetechniques for displaying and using virtual pillars in virtualexperience environments as described herein may include ageneral-purpose computer system that includes or is configured to accessone or more computer-accessible media, such as computer system 800illustrated in FIG. 8. In the illustrated embodiment, computer system800 includes one or more processors 804 coupled to a system memory 806via an input/output (I/O) interface. Computer system 800 furtherincludes a network interface 818 coupled to I/O interface. While FIG. 8shows computer system 800 as a single computing device, in variousembodiments a computer system 800 may include one computing device orany number of computing devices configured to work together as a singlecomputer system 800.

In various embodiments, computer system 800 may be a uniprocessor systemincluding one processor 804, or a multiprocessor system includingseveral processors 804 (e.g., two, four, eight, or another suitablenumber). Processors 804 may be any suitable processors capable ofexecuting instructions. For example, in various embodiments, processors804 may be general-purpose or embedded processors implementing any of avariety of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86, ARM,PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA. Inmultiprocessor systems, each of processors 804 may commonly, but notnecessarily, implement the same ISA.

System memory 806 may store instructions and data accessible byprocessor(s) 804. In various embodiments, system memory 806 may beimplemented using any suitable memory technology, such as random-accessmemory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM),nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In theillustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementing oneor more desired functions, such as those methods, techniques, and datadescribed above are shown stored within system memory 806 as code anddata.

In one embodiment, I/O interface may be configured to coordinate I/Otraffic between processor 804, system memory 806, and any peripheraldevices in the device, including network interface 818 or otherperipheral interfaces. In some embodiments, I/O interface may performany necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations to convertdata signals from one component (e.g., system memory 806) into a formatsuitable for use by another component (e.g., processor 804). In someembodiments, I/O interface may include support for devices attachedthrough various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of thePeripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the UniversalSerial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments, thefunction of I/O interface may be split into two or more separatecomponents, such as a north bridge and a south bridge, for example.Also, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/Ointerface, such as an interface to system memory 806, may beincorporated directly into processor 804.

Network interface 818 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 800 and other devices attached to a network ornetworks 822 and 828, such as other computer systems or devices asillustrated in FIG. 1, for example. In various embodiments, networkinterface 818 may support communication via any suitable wired orwireless general data networks, such as types of Ethernet network, forexample. Additionally, network interface 818 may support communicationvia telecommunications/telephony networks such as analog voice networksor digital fiber communications networks, via storage area networks(SANs) such as Fibre Channel SANs, or via I/O any other suitable type ofnetwork and/or protocol.

In some embodiments, system memory 806 may be one embodiment of acomputer-accessible medium configured to store program instructions anddata as described above. However, in other embodiments, programinstructions and/or data may be received, sent or stored upon differenttypes of computer-accessible media. Generally speaking, acomputer-accessible medium may include non-transitory storage media ormemory media such as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CDcoupled to computer system 800 via I/O interface. A non-transitorycomputer-accessible storage medium may also include any volatile ornon-volatile media such as RAM (e.g., SDRAM, double data rate (DDR)SDRAM, SRAM, etc.), read only memory (ROM), etc., that may be includedin some embodiments of computer system 800 as system memory 806 oranother type of memory. Further, a computer-accessible medium mayinclude transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as a network and/or a wireless link, such as may be implemented vianetwork interface 818.

In the preceding description, various embodiments are described. Forpurposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments.However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that theembodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore,well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscurethe embodiment being described.

Bracketed text and blocks with dashed borders (e.g., large dashes, smalldashes, dot-dash, and dots) are used herein to illustrate optionaloperations that add additional features to some embodiments. However,such notation should not be taken to mean that these are the onlyoptions or optional operations, and/or that blocks with solid bordersare not optional in certain embodiments.

Reference numerals with suffix letters may be used to indicate thatthere can be one or multiple instances of the referenced entity invarious embodiments, and when there are multiple instances, each doesnot need to be identical but may instead share some general traits oract in common ways. Further, the particular suffixes used are not meantto imply that a particular amount of the entity exists unlessspecifically indicated to the contrary. Thus, two entities using thesame or different suffix letters may or may not have the same number ofinstances in various embodiments.

References to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an exampleembodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodimentmay not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring tothe same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it issubmitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art toaffect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection withother embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

Moreover, in the various embodiments described above, unlessspecifically noted otherwise, disjunctive language such as the phrase“at least one of A, B, or C” is intended to be understood to mean eitherA, B, or C, or any combination thereof (e.g., A, B, and/or C). As such,disjunctive language is not intended to, nor should it be understood to,imply that a given embodiment requires at least one of A, at least oneof B, or at least one of C to each be present.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure asset forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented by a virtual experiencesystem comprising one or more computing devices running within anetworked computing environment and configured to cause display of avirtual pillar in a virtual experience environment viewed by at leastone participant, the method comprising: detecting entry of a participantinto a physical environment via a physical entrance area, wherein theparticipant uses a head-mounted display (HMD) to view a virtualenvironment associated with the physical environment, and wherein thevirtual environment includes a virtual entrance area coinciding with thephysical entrance area; in the virtual environment viewed by theparticipant, causing display of: an outer virtual environment, thevirtual pillar upon which a virtual avatar representing the participantstands, and at least one visual element that visually anchors a firstposition of the participant with respect to a second position of thevirtual pillar; causing the virtual pillar to rotate relative to theouter virtual environment, wherein the rotation of the virtual pillarcauses the participant's view in the virtual environment to rotate whilethe participant remains stationary in the physical environment;activating transducers in the physical environment in association withcausing the virtual pillar to rotate relative to the outer virtualenvironment; causing the virtual pillar to stop rotation upon reaching adefined amount of rotation; and causing display of a virtual egress areain the virtual environment, wherein the virtual egress area coincideswith the physical entrance area, and wherein the virtual entrance areaand the virtual egress area appear spatially distant in theparticipant's view of the virtual environment.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein a participant computer is positioned on the participant, andwherein the participant computer is coupled to the HMD that displays thevirtual environment to the participant.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein a server computer receives updated virtual information from aparticipant computer coupled to the participant and provides updates toat least one other participant computer in the physical environmentbased on the updated virtual information.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the physical environment is at least partially enclosed bywalls.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual environment isexperienced concurrently by a plurality of participants including theparticipant.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual pillar isdisplayed by an object upon which the virtual avatar representing theparticipant stands in the virtual environment.
 7. A computer-implementedmethod comprising: detecting entry of a participant into a physicalenvironment via a physical entrance area, wherein the participant isusing a head-mounted display (HMD) to view a virtual environmentassociated with the physical environment, and wherein the virtualenvironment includes a virtual entrance area coinciding with thephysical entrance area; causing display in the virtual environmentviewed by the participant: an outer environment including at least onefirst visual element, and an inner environment including at least onesecond visual element that visually anchors the participant to the innerenvironment; causing the display of the outer environment to rotatewhile display of the at least one second visual element remainsstationary; activating transducers in the physical environment inassociation with causing the display of the outer environment to rotatewhile display of the at least one second visual element remainsstationary; causing the display of the at least one first visual elementto stop rotation upon reaching a defined amount of rotation; and causingdisplay of a virtual egress area in the virtual environment, wherein thevirtual egress area coincides with the physical entrance area andwherein the virtual entrance area and the virtual egress area appearspatially distant in the participant's view of the virtual environment.8. The method of claim 7, wherein a participant computer is positionedon the participant, and wherein the participant computer is coupled tothe HMD that displays the virtual environment to the participant.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, wherein a server computer receives updated virtualinformation from a participant computer coupled to the participant andprovides updates to at least one other participant computer in thephysical environment based on the updated virtual information.
 10. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the physical environment is at leastpartially enclosed by walls.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein thevirtual environment is experienced concurrently by a plurality ofparticipants including the participant.
 12. The method of claim 7,wherein the inner environment is displayed by an object upon which anavatar representing the participant stands in the virtual environment.13. A system comprising: a first one or more electronic devicesimplementing a server computer, wherein the server computer includesinstructions that upon execution cause the server computer to: detectentry of a participant into a physical environment via a physicalentrance area, wherein the participant is using a head-mounted display(HMD) to view a virtual environment associated with the physicalenvironment, and wherein the virtual environment includes a virtualentrance area coinciding with the physical entrance area; cause displayin the virtual environment viewed by the participant: an outerenvironment including at least one first visual element, and an innerenvironment including at least one second visual element that visuallyanchors the participant to the inner environment; cause the display ofthe outer environment to rotate while display of the at least one secondvisual element remains stationary; activate transducers in the physicalenvironment in association with causing the display of the outerenvironment to rotate while display of the at least one second visualelement remains stationary; cause the display of the at least one firstvisual element to stop rotation upon reaching a defined amount ofrotation; and cause display of a virtual egress area in the virtualenvironment, wherein the virtual egress area coincides with the physicalentrance area and wherein the virtual entrance area and the virtualegress area appear spatially distant in the participant's view of thevirtual environment; a first one or more electronic devices implementinga participant computer, wherein the participant computer includesinstructions that upon execution cause the participant computer to causethe HMD to display the virtual environment viewed by the participant.14. The system of claim 13, wherein the participant computer ispositioned on the participant, and wherein the participant computer iscoupled to the HMD that displays the virtual environment to theparticipant.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the server computerreceives updated virtual information from the participant computercoupled to the participant and provides updates to at least one otherparticipant computer in the physical environment based on the updatedvirtual information.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the physicalenvironment is at least partially enclosed by walls.
 17. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the virtual environment is experienced concurrently bya plurality of participants including the participant.